HRP looks into the requirement of human resources by an organization in order to attain its strategic objectives and goals. Bulla and Scott (1994) has defined HRP as the process for conforming that the human resource requirements of an organization are identified and plans made for fulfilling those needs. HRP is built on the premise that employees of an organization constitutes its greatest strategic resource and it is generally concerned with aligning resources with that of business needs in the long-term. HRP deals with human resource needs in quantitative as well as qualitative terms. This implies meeting two very fundamental questions which are 'the number of people' and 'attributes required to be present in those people'. Besides it also addresses broader issues impacting the manner in which people are recruited and their respective careers developed with a view to augmenting organizational effectiveness. Hence, it can contribute in a meaningful way in strategic human resource management. (Armstrong, 2006)

Under HRP a distinction exists between 'soft' and 'hard' human resource planning. The hard approach is based on quantitative analysis so as to guarantee that the appropriate number of effective people is available when the need arises. On the other hand, soft-HRP aims at ensuring people to have the right attitude and motivation levels, commitment to the organization and is engaged in their work and manifests their behaviour accordingly. The ultimate analysis of the outcomes of performance reviews and opinions produced by focus groups have their roots in assessments of the requirements for these qualities, and measurements of the degree to which they occur. The evaluation and analyses can outcome in plans for betterment of work environment, giving scope and develop competencies and career plans and formulating a 'total rewards approach' that aims at non-monetary relational rewards as also financial transaction rewards. (Armstrong, 2006)

HRP is the process of recognizing and enumerating the available personnel resources and projecting future needs of the organization in terms of manpower. It must disclose the gaps and constraints existent in the human resource capability of an organization. This is because for instance an absence of experienced workforce, a scarcity of potential new talents or the cost of inducting the present personnel. Besides it should assist in the identification of procedure of attaining reasonable targets as regards human resources strategy is concerned. The people assigned with the task of human resource planning are required to comprehend the characteristics and importance of the contribution that people give. Apart from that, they must be conversant of the HR cycle through which personnel go through while they join and rise in the ranks within the organization. (Simms, 2005)

This can be shown as a cycle as (1) HR planning- identified needs (2) recruitment and selection -- identifies the right people (3) Induction/orientation -- introduces them into the team (4) Job description -- clarifies their role (5) Coaching and counselling -- Gets the best out of them (6) Performance appraisal -- reviews their performance (7) Training and development -- develops them and their skills (8) Promotion and Outplacement -- removes them from the team. HRP must be capable of including the practical requirements and goals of staff within an establishment as also the wider personnel needs of the department and divisions within the organization. An organization might not be having a formal means of HRP, nevertheless it is still crucial to chalk out the recruitment and selection process to guarantee that is aligned with the overall corporate strategy. (Simms, 2005)

Three important factors that a HR Manager needs to consider while undertaking HRP

While putting an effective HRP in place, a HR Manager is required to consider the following three factors: (i) Training and development -- to identify skill gaps within the organization and provide appropriate training inputs (ii) Succession Planning -- to ensure that future leaders are shaped well in advance so that workforce needs are managed efficiently when key employees retire or leave the organization. (iii) Talent Management.

(i) Training and development:

Training & development are an integral part of HRP and hence investments made in this sphere have the potential of making employees more productive and effective in their respective jobs. The primary objective of conducting a training and management development program is improvement of employee as well as organizational capabilities. For example when an organization makes investment in enhancing the knowledge and skill base of its employees, the investments pay back in the form of higher productivity and effectiveness among the employees. Training and Development programmes can be addressed to individual performance or team performance. (York, 2009)

The initial move in creating an effective training program is to identify what are the training needs of the employees. Training Needs Assessment is the method of collecting data to resolve what training needs employees already have such that training can be developed to enhance the efficacy of the workforce and thus assist the organization in meeting its business goals and objectives. The primary factors for undertaking a prior training need assessment are (i) to locate the specific issues within the organization such that the problems having the maximum priority are addressed through appropriate training solutions (ii) to get management confidence and support by conforming that the training is responsible for improvement of organizational profits in financial terms and it directly contributes to the improvement of job performance of the employee (iii) development of supporting facts for assessment of the success of the training program upon completion of the training program and (iv) working out the costs and benefits of training, since costs are involved to leave a training need unfulfilled as also advantages obtained from enhanced job performance. (York, 2009)

(ii) Succession Planning:

Succession planning or replacement planning are implemented to cover the development of sufficient number of professional employees to fill vacancies which might arise in future in important managerial and professional positions. Succession planning has been applied as a formalised mechanism for handling the changes in leadership for more than five decades. Initially used to forecast easy transition at the topmost levels in organizations, it has matured into a process that a lot of organizations see as important for crucial positions across functions and levels. In simpler terms, the role of HR manager while making succession planning is to see that when vacancies of key position emerge within the organization, the normal practice is to give promotion from the existing employees found suitable or recruit from outside. Succession planning is performed as per an agreed upon and insightful policy and process. (Steele, 2006)

The most important part of succession planning is associating the individual capability of a person with that of the position and formulating a plan which outcomes in placing the right person in the right job at the right time. Successful plans are crafted particularly for the requirements of each organization to the degree of being culturally sensitive. The most vital considerations while implementing a succession planning program, or ushering a revision to an existing succession planning cover considerations like (a) presence of a vision statement that steers the manner in which the plan is designed and how the decisions are made. For instance whether the organization is desirous of maintaining the earlier stand, take effort, or look to revamp by deploying chosen talent from different areas that includes outside the organization as also the industry. (b) Does the organization operate from strengths as well as the vacant positions of promising candidates and formulate customised plans working in that direction. (Steele, 2006)

(iii) Talent Management:

Talent management can be defined as the development, recruitment and prevention of attrition of staffs who time and again deliver exemplary performance and also help in identifying the important constituents of an appropriate talent management strategy. Talent management strategy must be treated as a comprehensive endeavour through addressing individual constituents possess some merits, but is not likely to deliver the identical results as a comprehensive approach. The various constituents of talent can be placed in a Talent Search Matrix consisting of a number of quantifiable and unquantifiable elements that when considered as a whole give an impression that the individual who is supposed to concentrate on the qualities which are needed instead to produce a job description. The six elements in the matrix are (i) experience, profile, qualification and (ii) expertise, potential and quantification. Experience, profile and qualification can all be put to objective assessments, whereas proficiency, potential and quantification are dependent more on the subjective dimension. (Davis; Cutt, et. al, 2007)

While optimising an organization's capability to achieve continued excellence, it should identify the importance for proactive talent management and have a systematic procedure of completing that particular activity. Prior to launching into a systematic approach to managing talent, nevertheless it is crucial to comprehend the objectives of proactive talent management. It is observed that successful enterprises either put-forth or spontaneously concentrate on three outcomes. These are (i) the identification, selection, development and retention of what is termed as 'Superkeepers'. Superkeepers are a niche group of…[continue]

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